ORIGINAL: fenrislokison
While i agree on the general idea you exposed, i must say, having the private sector paying to do state stuff exists in reality, especially in the security area and health care area.
For example, in France, asbestos in buildings isn't authorized anymore (since some years now) and old buildings using it must be cleaned, but the owners of the buildings have to pay for it, not the state.
another example is that cars must be equipped with safety belts and be built such as in case of an accident, the car crushes itself to absorb the impact. All this is paid by the buyers of the cars, in most case, the private sector.
Well, for these examples, you could object that the state doesn't sell the services or objects it forces people to use, but here is one:
- in France, electricity production is done by EDF company, which is property of the state, so the state sells electricity to people. At the same time, there are regulations to equip buildings with propers electrical installations used by EDF to monitor electrical distributions. These electrical installations are partly paid by the customers, in other words the private sector.
So while i perfectly understood your point regarding abuse, it is still very possible to have the state enact laws forcing buildings to be equipped with such or such equipment and having the state being the only seller of said equipment.
A bit dirty, but perfectly valid.
The abuse in the game comes from the fact the private sector is much much stronger than it is IRL so it can endure a lot more and the fact that game people are just sheeps, much more than in reality as they don't strike or rebel as they should be.
Right it's not unrealistic that the state would want to do it, it's unrealistic that it would be carried out mindlessly. Putting in small cheap things is realistic, like a proximity sensor even though it doesn't really need it from a selfish POV.
A long range sensor, however, is pushing it. An exploit. It would be a valid strategy only if the game reacted to it. Excessive defenses and research stations are even worse, there's no way private companies would have accepted paying for that.
